- May 4, 2024
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Flagler County lacks a drop-in mental health and substance abuse treatment center, and the county government was hoping to build one in a facility that AdventHealth had offered to donate to the county.
"After the building was cleared out and we could have complete access to it, a number of issues were discovered."
— JERRY CAMERON, Flagler County administrator
But that won't work: The building has too many problems, County Administrator Jerry Cameron said at a County Commission meeting Feb. 15. So instead of a $75,000 expense to renovate an existing, donated building, the county is now facing at least a $200,000 expense to build or buy a new one.
"Our initial surveys of the building showed that we could get it done with a reasonable amount of renovation," Cameron said. "After the building was cleared out and we could have complete access to it, a number of issues were discovered: some of them with asbestos, some of them with wood rot and some other issues. It was determined that you could probably tear it down and build a new building for as much money as it was going to cost you to renovate that one."
The county is looking at other options. One involves accepting the land from AdventHealth, then building a new building on the site.
The drop-in mental health center proposal was the county's top funding request to the state government, and county government staff are evaluating how the revelations about the building's status might affect what the county is seeking from the state Legislature, Cameron said.
"I've been contacted by a couple hospitals that are interested in trying to come up with a solution," Cameron said. "If they become major players at that, then the match for that, coming from the Legislature, would be imperative."
Flagler County has had bad luck with used buildings: It bought a former hospital building on State Road 100 and renovated it into a Sheriff's Operations Center before discovering mold issues that prompted the sheriff to evacuate his entire staff; then, not long after, it bought two more facilities for government use — a former Wachovia building and a former Sears — and found problems with both.
The latest disappointment with the AdventHealth building is different, because the county hasn't spent money on the Advent building. But commissioners were concerned about how it might impact the county's legislative funding request.
Cameron said the county has about a 30-day window to amend its request.
"If we can make something happen, we will," he said. "It is a high community priority, but we would have to have some partners."
Commissioner Donald O'Brien asked what the county had communicated to its legislators, Sen. Travis Hutson and Rep. Paul Renner.
Cameron said the county had not yet contacted them, but will do so within about a week once the county knows what its alternatives are.
